Soldiers in spotlight at opening of Space and Missile Defense Conference in Huntsville

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Lt. Gen. Richard Formica started the 14th annual Space and Missile Defense Conference Tuesday morning by reminding the large audience of the main reason they are in Huntsville this week.

Ten soldiers lined up in front of the podium to a standing ovation. Most are recent inductees into the Army's prestigious Sgt. Audie Murphy Club, and the group included the Space and Missile Command's Soldier of the Year, Spc. Brandon Kitchen of B Company, 53rd Signal Battalion, Fort Meade, Md., and SMDC's Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year, Staff Sgt. Andrew Brown of 1st Space Company, 1st Space Battalion, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Formica, the SMDC commander, said the Army has been performing "magnificently" around the world, with 246,000 deployed troops, including about 114,000 in Afghanistan and Iraq. More than 6,000 soldiers and civilians have died in those wars, he said, pointing out that Alabama Army National Guard Capt. Waid "Chip" Ramsey - who served with "selflessness and pride" - had been laid to rest in Huntsville on Sunday.

"They understand service and they understand sacrifice," Formica said, adding that it is to them that SMDC and the hundreds of contractors and leaders gathering at the Von Braun Center this week are dedicated to providing space and missile-defense capabilities.

That's one reason why, despite tighter budgets and talk of even more reductions in defense spending, so many people are attending the conference, said Joe Fitzgerald, who worked on the SMD Conference and is also state president of the Association of the U.S. Army. Final registration is expected to be between 1,300 and 1,400, he said.

"I believe it will exceed last year's," Fitzgerald said. "There's a desire to provide ongoing support to the warfighter."

"It's a pretty amazing turnout," said Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, the first female military astronaut, now commander of the Air Force Space Command and the Joint Functional Component Command for Space, U.S. Strategic Command, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

She pointed out that navigation used to be by sextant and clock, and communication by telegraph. Today, warfighters use satellite technology for communications, surveillance, navigation and much more at a pace almost unimaginable.

"Space has revolutionized how we fight," Helms said.

But it's presenting new challenges, including finding ways to protect space assets and the computer and communication systems that make them useful. And, of course, paying for them.

"Budgets are tight. Costs are a challenge," Helms said, acknowledging that here in Huntsville she's preaching to the choir.

She said ways must be found for more users to have access to the information and capability that a satellite or other space asset provides, and to work with private industry to use some of their space tools when needed if an enemy disrupts those used by the military.

"We've got a lot of sensors in a lot of places," she said.

Formica said the development of technology and partnerships must continue to be able to meet emerging threats. Potential enemies are developing more capable missile systems, so the timing of warnings and even the kind of warning systems must change to protect the homeland and allies in Europe and elsewhere.

"We need to have the right offense-defense mix," he said.

More than 30 nations now have or are developing a ballistic missile capability, said German Lt. Gen. Friedrich Ploeger, deputy commander of NATO's Allied Air Command Ramstein at Ramstein Airbase in Germany. At Tuesday's luncheon, he outlined NATO's perspective on missile defense in Europe.

"Russia is the elephant in the room," he told a luncheon crowd, pointing out that the country must be considered and informed so that European plans aren't considered too threatening to its own missile deterrence.

Ploeger said that many NATO nations are bringing "lower-tier" systems to the table to become part of the common missile defense, but higher-altitude "upper-tier" systems are mostly the province of the United States.

"Buying a commonly owned pool of interceptor missiles could be a way of contributing" to the upper-tier defense, he said.

This week's conference - the theme is "Providing Capabilities to the Warfighter" - is occurring as leaders in Washington, D.C., debate federal spending and defense cuts, creating concern.

"It's real," said retired Maj. Gen. John Holly, vice president of Missile Defense Systems for Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Huntsville. But he said there may not be much talk about it publicly at the conference this week because there's not much information to work with, yet.

Karen Williams, a Northrop Grumman vice president and general manager of the company's Missile Defense Division, pointed out that Tuesday's speakers barely mentioned defense budgets and economic woes, except to reiterate the need to be efficient and make every dollar count.